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For Algeria's Hirak Protest Movement, COVID-19 Could Prove an Opportunity

Lisa Bryant

   PARIS - A year ago, Algeria's stunning popular uprising forced out
   longtimePresident Abdelaziz Bouteflika and rocked a power establishment
   in place since independence.

   Today the coronavirus pandemic has emptied streets once packed with
   millions of anti-government protesters, while authorities continue a
   campaign of intimidation and arrests, critics say.

   Some predict the pandemic, which now leaves Algeria with Africa's
   biggest reported death toll, may unravel the largely
   peacefulHirakprotest movement born early last year. Yet other analysts
   believe, paradoxically, that COVID-19 could see it emerge stronger than
   ever.

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